Tina,
I feel your pain. It has been my experience that this
problem of students not doing well gets worse every year.
I can give them the questions to study the day before
and many (NOT A FEW) cannot (or IMHO will not study in
order to) pass. I believe I work harder than ever to do
creative things in the class to help students achieve.
However, I cannot make my classes like a Bill Nye Video
(I like Bill Nye b the way); I don't have the time, staff or
money to do so. This is why I truly believe new teachers
will not last 30 years in the business (maybe that's a
good thing). But when I started some 25+ years ago, if
was a lot more fun, a lot less work and students were all
above average (well at least when I compare them to the
students I have today.)